Advocate Thembalihle Sidaki says the State wants to punish his clients - the nine men accused of dumping faeces at Cape Town’s airport.
|||Cape Town - The State wants the nine men accused of dumping faeces at Cape Town International Airport to be denied bail simply to punish them, the Bellville Magistrate’s Court has heard.
Advocate Thembalihle Sidaki, for the men, claimed this in support of his clients’ bail application on Tuesday.
“The State wants to use bail as a form of punishment and I ask the court not to fall in that trap,” he said.
But prosecutor Greg Wolmarans said the men had been charged with a “tremendously serious” offence that affected the image of South Africa.
The men - city councillor Luyiso Nkohla and expelled councillor Andile Lili, as well as Yanga Njingwana, Ben Dyoni, Bantubakhe Ngobodiya, Wandesile Mkapa, Jaj Dimiso, Bongile Zamazo and Thembela Mabajwa - are accused of contravening the Civil Aviation Act.
Wolmarans argued that the men had “failed miserably” to prove that it was in the interest of justice to release them on bail.
Sidaki argued that arresting people was not the way to resolve the sanitation crisis: “The answer lies in responsible governance and dialogue. Incarceration did not work with Nelson Mandela and it’s unlikely to work with the accused.”
Magistrate Jannie Kotze is expected to decide on bail on Monday.
Meanwhile, during the two-day bail application, residents protested outside the court in support of the men.
On Monday, 21 people were arrested for protesting within 100m of a court building without permission.
Senior prosecutor Thanga Phangalele said the prosecution would not oppose their release on bail, but it emerged that 10 of them were linked to a case which involved the arrest of 184 people at a Woodstock station for carrying human waste allegedly for dumping in the city.
Ten were released on bail of R200, 10 were freed on a warning and charges were withdrawn against one who is a minor. But magistrate Titi Mthimunye said all 21 were prohibited from convening any public gathering without written notice to the authorities.
The case against the protesters was postponed to August 16 so that the director of public prosecutions could decide how to deal with the matter.
Cape Argus